Hello September

Wow, how fast time really does fly! From the last time I've updated on Hannah's journey so much has happened.  I can now say I've gone from being a total nervous nellie to totally excited for Hannah. That's not to say that I'm not going to worry. If there is one thing Michael and I took away from the AG Bell conference in July is that you can never rest on your child's accomplishments. We need to stay vigilant and make sure Hannah is hitting all of her milestones. But as Hannah has progressed, I'm feeling a lot more comfortable teaching Hannah to talk, to listen and I have found my own way to be Hannah's mom, which I will get into later.

Most importantly, Hannah is progressing nicely and is flourishing. She is saying new words...such as  around, wait, please, to name a few...and is understanding simple commands like, "Hannah can you brush the baby's hair?" She is also amazing at discriminating between sounds, and able to pick out with ease which animals says BAAAA vs. MOOOO vs. QUACK QUACK. She also is an expert at Meow thanks to her kitty Sam. Last week we were at a baby yoga class when Hannah pulled a cat out of the bag and she proudly said Meow in front of the class. I was so proud.

Hannah is also letting us know when she hears things both in our apartment and outside. So when a plane whizzes past or a taxi goes beep, Hannah will point to her ear and approximate the words, "I hear it."

Another amazing achievement is her singing. Hannah has always loved music and music relaxes her. She has hummed the words to her Hello song and now she participates in songs like "If You're Happy and You Know It" by clapping her hands, patting her head when she listens to someone sing. She also says round and round and shhh shhh to the appropriate parts of "Wheels on The Bus."

Hannah is also walking, or rather running towards anything. We recently got her a baby doll stroller so she could push through the city. You can catch her walking with pride, waving to folks along the way. It's so cute to see.

I know all this progress came with a lot of hard work by Hannah and to the amazing speech therapy services she has been receiving. But we reached a point where we thought it was too much therapy and not enough time for Hannah to just be a kid.  While we increased speech services through EI at NYEE, we had to say good bye to the Center where Hannah began. We wanted  give her more time to go to story hours, museums, play in the park and get dirty. Hannah has an unbelievable zest for life, she is open to enjoying new experiences -- and living in Manhattan offers just that. I've learned so much over the past 15 months, more than I have ever learned about life and I know I can help her progress even further.  We have also enrolled Hannah in a couple of mainstream programs. She will be enjoying a musical animal adventures program at The Art Farms in the City as well as gymnastics at NY Kids Club.

We're really looking forward to the fall.